Winter's Touch
by Aslym
Summary: Futurefic. Tezuka is sent to the US a bit before Christmas where he runs into an old Seigaku regular who captures the captain's attention. He finds himself enjoying his friend's company more than before, although uncertain why it feels different to him.


_Author's Note: __This is the first fanfic that I've actually written down, so I'm curious to see how it goes. That being said feel free to comment, whether it good or bad. (Of course, No flaming though.)  
__I switched perspectives through out it so then there's nothing too boring. (I hope. :)__ )  
__I haven't had the chance to finish the series; I was watching it online when the site cut it off. ;-; I ended up reading it on the internet, but a couple chapters were missing so if anyone knows of a site to watch episodes 20+ in English could you please let me know? . Much appreciated._

_Typing:  
_'_This kind of type with one set of quotations' Unspoken, usually wording seen somewhere.  
_"_This type with double quotations."Thoughts, or a flashback.  
_"Normal speaking._"_

_And naturally I don't own PoT, as much as all of us fans wish we could.  
_

Eiji sighed and rolled over onto his side to look at the alarm clock. 9:00. Wow, he had actually slept in, he thought slightly surprised. Ah well, the day was waiting! Eiji jumped out of bed and slid into his clothes while looking out the window. Seeing the skyline he couldn't wait until he had time to explore the city. But that would have to wait until after the photo shoot. He sighed at the thought of that.

He stepped out of the Tilant hotel, and turned left towards his favorite drink vendor to grab something to warm him up. After all, what else are you going to do to get warm in a New York winter?

* * *

Tezuka was just about to step into a corner bookstore when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. '_Fuji Shuusuke.' _Tezuka sighed. Fuji always seemed to know the most inconvenient times to call him.

"Tezuka," the soft voice greeted him.

"What do you want Fuji?' he asked glancing at the bookstore right in front of him.

"Am I interrupting something Tezuka?" something in his tone made Tezuka suspicious of Fuji's intentions. "I thought you might want an update on the old Regulars since you inquired about them last time we talked," he added innocently.

Tezuka stayed silent, allowing Fuji to continue. "Echizen's off in France playing in the most recent tournament. I'm here in California shooting picture for some summer catalog. Kaidoh and Momo have somehow managed to start their fitness center without killing each other. Oishi is still studying to be a teacher at a Kyoto University, and Inui has become a well-known Chemist in Europe at the moment," he paused there for a second and chuckled. "I believe it's more because of the warning being passed around about his creations. And Eiji's in the U.S. for work also."

Tezuka was quite for a moment. The thought of Inui poisoning unsuspecting people in Europe was amusing and frightening at the same time. So he made a mental note to not go through Europe anytime in the near future.

"Oh and since I won't be able to tour the US anytime soon, there's a few places you should check out Tezuka," once again something in Fuji's voice hinted that it wasn't an option. Which made Tezuka wonder what Fuji could possible gain from sending him on a tour of the city. Fuji then proceeded to tell him the list of places he should visit. He even had general _time frames_ for when he wanted his old buchou to visit certain places.

After Fuji finished rambling off his list, which Tezuka didn't bother writing down, the former Seigaku captain sighed and quickly closed his phone. He had no intention of going to any of those places but he was suddenly struck by the thought that coffee sounded great, and he was near one of the places Fuji suggested for coffee… Tezuka sighed. He might as well go there as anywhere else. With that he turned around and headed in the direction of Central Park.

* * *

There was a line for the coffee vendor when Tezuka got there. No surprise really, after all it was winter in New York. What else would everyone grab to drink? To pass time Tezuka began looking around the park. There were little kids running through the section of trees, and then climbing them to hide, then to the right there was a group of teenagers lounging around; enjoying their winter break by having a picnic. Then there were the couples. They were spread out all around the park. There was one particular group that caught his attention. The boy was obviously there with his girlfriend, and he had brought his buddy along. But when Tezuka saw the boyfriend's buddy glance at the girlfriend he looked away. Something about that felt strange to Tezuka, and he didn't… no he refused to recognize why it made him so uncomfortable.

His gaze wandered back to the people in line. Just the everyday New Yorkers. He froze suddenly, looking at a man a few people in front of him. Why did that build seem so familiar to him? Tezuka frowned. He was sure that he'd never seen the jacket before though. It was a light brown material between denim and leather. Tezuka shifted slightly to one side, hoping to get a better look at the man but the vendor's sign was in the way. He let out a heavy breath, frustrated. He wanted to know why the man looked so familiar to him, but didn't know why he needed to know so much. It was probably just a coincidence anyway, Tezuka convinced himself.

Tezuka finally managed to get to the front of the line, and ordered a hazelnut-vanilla coffee. Then as he sipped on it, he unconsciously started scanning the park. There. He watched the familiar looking man, once again trying to place where he knew him from. …His walk reminded him of Fuji, Tezuka realized surprised. But Fuji was supposed to be in California; wasn't he?

The man shifted slightly to sit down on a bench, so Tezuka had a better view of him. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, "Kikumaru."

* * *

Eiji automatically glanced up when he heard his name and immediately saw the respected Seigaku buchou. "Tezuka," he said startled, "What are you doing in New York?"

"I'm here to see about a possible law case at the moment," he answered sitting down next to the red head on the bench. "What about yourself Kikumaru?" So their buchou hadn't gone on to be a tennis pro as they had all hoped.

"Oh, I'm here for a photo shoot," he said smiling. Eiji could have sworn that he saw Tezuka looked surprised at that….but then again it was his captain he was talking to, so maybe he just imagined it. "Fujiko got me into it," he added laughing a little.

Kikumaru was still the same as always, Tezuka thought smiling to himself. And still just as bad with time as he used to be, he silently added when Eiji suddenly glanced at his watch, "AH! I'm going to be late!" He stood up and glanced back at his former captain. "How long are you going to be in New York, Tezuka?"

The captain frowned slightly, "I'm not sure; maybe a month or two." Eiji grinned at that, "Alright, why don't we meet up again later then?" he suggested. Tezuka readily agreed, glad to have the chance to talk about things like tennis later. Once Kikumaru had bounced off out of sight, Tezuka turned around and headed in the direction of his client briefing.

* * *

Tezuka walked into the main conference area. Which happened to be empty. "The client's group has been delayed sir. Would you like me to notify you when they enter?" the young African secretary asked him. "Yes, thank you. I'll be in my office."

He sighed, sitting down and glanced around the mocha colored room. Tezuka really didn't have anything to do before the client group arrived, so his mind wandered back to the conversation he'd had with the unexpected redhead. _"I'm here for a photo shoot… Fujiko got me into it."_

"I wonder…" Tezuka murmured softly, "what kind of pictures he takes." He flipped open his laptop and went on a photo site that Fuji usually had his work on. _'Kikumaru Eiji,' Enter._ A couple seconds later the page loaded. Tezuka sat there for a moment, stunned. Tezuka wasn't sure what type of pictures he had been expecting… but it wasn't any like this. In front of him on the screen were multiple pictures of Eiji. "_Kikumaru's a model_?!" he thought in surprise.

Tezuka had assumed that Fuji has gotten Kikumaru interested in photography… he had never thought that the object of the pictures might be the acrobatics player himself. He glanced through the first page of pictures. Several had been taken by Fuji himself; speak of the devil. Those ones all seemed to show Kikumaru laughing, or in the midst of some acrobatic trick. Tezuka realized that they must have been taken right after they had graduated; the background in those pictures were places Seigaku had visited regularly to hang out.

He was surprised as he saw the pictures that came after the ones that Fuji had taken, that were much more recent. There was one of Eiji on his side, laying on his arm, with a hat tilted to the side. There was another boy in the picture too; the black haired man was propped up on his elbow just behind Eiji. Tezuka frowned slightly at seeing the darker haired man, though he wasn't really sure why he was uneasy about this other model. _"Could I possibly know him from somewhere…?"_

"Tezuka, the client group has just arrived," the secretary said, interrupting his speculation through the intercom. He had just stood up when he noticed the numbers at the bottom of his computer screen. _'Showing pictures 1-20 out of 2,000', _he shook his head in amazement, and walked down the hall to the conference room.

"Ah, there he is," the native New York lawyer introduced him. "This is Tezuka-san. He'll be here to hear your case, and see if his firm will take it on." "Right, so…" With that the case briefing began.

Within minutes of the start of the briefing Tezuka's mind had already started to wander. _"So that's what Kikumaru meant by the photo shoot. I wonder if any of the other regulars know about it…_ He mentally scolded himself for that. _Of course some of the others must know; Oishi's his best friend after all, and Fuji knows of course." _

His thoughts wandered back to the online photo site. '_Showing pictures 1-20 out of 2,000' He must be pretty well known in the business to have so many pictures. _Then Tezuka thought back to all the pictures he had seen that included the regulars over the years that they had played together. _"Now that I think about it, I've never seen Kikumaru take a bad picture… and most of the time he wasn't even posing. It's no wonder Eiji ended up doing so well…"_

"--zuka-san? Erg, Tezuka-san? Are you alright?" the New York native asked, glancing at him. "You haven't said anything about the case so far."

"Hm? Oh, yes. I'm fine," Tezuka said, coming back to the present. "Alright then! I believe that concludes our briefing, yes?" Tezuka's co-worker, Ootori said in order to distract the clients.

As everyone began filing out of the room Ootori caught Tezuka by the arm. "You didn't hear a word of what they said, did you Tezuka?" At Tezuka's lack of answer, he took that as a yes. "Here then," Ootori sighed, and handed him a folder. "I took notes over it."

"Arigato, Ootori-san." This was one of the few times that he didn't mind Ootori's watchfulness. Sometimes his friend was too observant for Tezuka to deal with.

As Tezuka walked away with the notes, Ootori couldn't help but wonder what had caused Tezuka to lose his attention span so easily; he'd never seen anyone capable of distracting Tezuka as long as he'd known him. "Perhaps, I'll find out later," he mused.

* * *

_A/N : Eh… I feel like Eiji may not be quite in the character set that I want yet. Hopefully I can fix that soon. ;-; And I plan on changing what I put between perspectives... I think these horizontal lines are a bit misleading...but as I can't find a way to simply remove them without editing this once again, they're going to stay in this one.  
_


End file.
